Yes, it's here! Worlingworth's first book - a book of photographs - past and present - was launched on Saturday 5th May 2012 and we received a tremendous response from the parish and beyond. Over 150 books have been sold and the day was notable for the interest that visitors showed in the displays.
The book is now available to collect in Worlingworth by phoning Rosemary Ingate on 01728-628493 and will be available by post from June 1st (price £8.99 plus P&P) as well as being sold through local bookshops. Orders are also being taken via the Contact Form on this website.
If you would like to contribute to the History Group in any way, we would welcome copies of family trees and documents, old photographs and any stories about former residents of the parish. If you would like to assist in our research at the Suffolk Records Office in Ipswich, we would be pleased to offer guidance from our experienced researchers. There are a number of interesting projects ongoing. Contact us using the Contact Form on this website.
Where is Worlingworth?
Worlingworth is a parish of some 2,400 acres of strong clay land, located in the north of the county of Suffolk in East Anglia. It lies somewhere between Ipswich and Norwich, lying closer to the former. The village topography is typical of a Suffolk parish, a long "street" with isolated groups of dwellings (perhaps a farm and one or two labourer's cottages) and the occasional narrow side road leading off to a neighbouring parish. The church and the inn form the centres of the two main settlement clusters and visual evidence of the ancient village green - the former common land - exists today with the preservation of Great Green on Shop Street. Worlingworth straggles along an unclassified road which roughly heads south-east to north-west from the direction of Framlingham to Eye. The area to the south and east used to be known as the "Suffolk Woodland" - centuries ago, the land was heavily wooded - many Suffolk oaks were used to build the Royal Navy ships that served the nation from the time of Henry VIII to Nelson.
Worlingworth's History
The history of the parish is inevitably tied to agriculture. In medieval times, much of Worlingworth's acres were in the form of "strips" of land, perhaps only a few metres wide, worked by the peasants for their feudal lord. The Rous (Rowse) family dominated the parish for hundreds of years until the early 1700s. By the late 18th century, the Major and Henniker families had become the dominant landlords although the Ray family was very active in the commercial Shop Street cluster, centred around the Red House and the Worlingworth Maltings. The Ray family also provided the parish with its workhouse.
Worlingworth was a typical Suffolk parish of the 19th century, its inhabitants suffering greatly from the depression in agriculture. Bankruptcies, suicides, migration, emigration and transportation all featured intermittently in the parish timeline. In the Government census of 1851, 25% of the parish adult population were classed as paupers. Many cottages were little better than hovels. Consumption and other diseases were a constant danger, even in a rural setting.
The saving grace for many was the parish church, the community centre of its time. In a religious survey of 1851, it was recorded that there were morning and afternoon services and that, on average, over 300 people attended divine service on a Sunday afternoon. However, the church had become dilapidated and it wasn't until the Rev'd Frederic French had settled in as Rector in the late 1850s, that the parish's fortunes saw an upturn.
The church restoration of the 1860s and the introduction of the "Harvest Home" celebration were examples of the Rector's determination to improve the living standards of the deprived cottagers. Frederic French served the community as Rector, Justice of the Peace and County Councillor over 54 years.
This website has been built with the help of a grant made by Suffolk County Council, from our County Councillor Eddie Alcock's Locality Budget, and by a Community Projects grant from Mid-Suffolk District Council in 2009. We have also raised funds through presentation nights and quizzes.